Study finds older adults sleep less

As we get older we may need less sleep.Researchers reporting in the current issue of Biology compared sleep behavior between a group of young men and women and another group ages 60 and over.

The older people had a harder time falling to sleep and slept shorter hours.

Scientists say it could be because older people don't expend as much energy as younger adults and they tend to nap, which could be why healthy adults sleep less in their 60's than they did in their 20's.

If true, researchers say the observation could mean that what many elderly people interpret as insomnia could be a completely normal reflection of an age related shift in their internal clock.